Moire and Stray at Pier 2/17/18

Moire sits on her belly at the edge of one of the smaller piers of the town's docks, her legs tucked underneath her. Her eyes are closed, her head erect; her long and disheveled mane cascades over her shoulder blades and back. Green light eminates from her horn, and a short distance away a rock floats above the water in the same green light. She wears neither her vest nor her tie, and not even her typical green hair clip can be found.
Stray Shot - Today at 11:57 AM
Stray departs his riverside home dressed in his usual fatigues shirt and saddlebags. Stepping outside, he grumbles at the temperature change since yesterday. He kept having to switch between the heater and the air conditioner within a few hours, and it was running up the bill. What a jew.

The stallion had an objective as he hopped off the ground and took to the skies with a whoosh of his wings. He needed to find a certain pink unicorn and warn her about the fuzz. He started to dart off in the direction of Fine's shop, but as he passes over the docks he looks down and sees the one he was seeking out. He abruptly arcs downward, aiming for the pier.

Moire's quiet moment of contemplation is interrupted by the sound of whooshing air and hooves rapidly clopping along the wooden planks of the pier. Stray could immediately tell she was meditating, and spoke quietly compared to his loud landing. "Moire. Hello." He says, his trademark lopsided grin greeting the unicorn. "Am I... disturbing something?" His slightly raspy voice asks. Huh... he'd never seen Moire without her hairclip and mane done up before.
Moiré - Today at 12:01 PM
Moire's eyes open and she turns her head, the rock staying in place. A smile grows when she spots who it is. "Oh, Stray. Hi," she says, "no, I'm just relaxing." She slowly spreads out foreleg to pat the pier beside her. "Come on over."
Stray Shot - Today at 12:07 PM
Stray's crooked smile softens as he obliges, folding his wings and sitting on his haunches next to her. His blue eyes gaze over the river and he takes a lazy deep breath, letting himself relax as well. "Haven't seen you since our lil' job. I've been lookin' for you. How've you been doing?"
Moiré - Today at 12:13 PM
Moire turns back to her previous position and closes her eyes. The rock gently floats there. "Looking for me?" she says, ignoring the question. "I've been at the shop since- for a few days."
Stray Shot - Today at 12:19 PM
"Yeah... Barely missed y'at the carnival. I figured you might not be feelin' well or somethin', not bein' at the paper when I went." His long blond tail curls around him where he sat, thinking for a moment. He could tell something was different. Something had changed. She didn't seem sick like he'd originally assumed. He wasn't going to pry, though. "But yeah... that buyer we did the transport for, remember him?... Some of his guys, my 'co-workers', got busted." He starts out, glancing over to Moire for her reaction, wondering if this was a bad time to warn her...(edited)
"I need to bring you up to speed on some things."
Moiré - Today at 12:21 PM
Moire's eyes open. The grip on the rock weakens, but her head twitches in a split second and she catches it once again. She looks to him, more alert. "Are we in trouble?"(edited)
Stray Shot - Today at 12:29 PM
Stray glances to the rock as the magic grasp around it weakens before meeting Moire's gaze, his demeanor calm and tone as he shakes his head. "We're not in trouble. I just want to give you a heads up in case you get questioned like I did the other day. The guard is gettin' a lot more serious about this smuggling thing. It's not because of what we did; we weren't sloppy and did everything right. But it's obvious the tendrils of guard intelligence are reachin' deeper and deeper into this thing." He pauses for a moment, bringing out his water canteen and taking a sip before continuing. "I don't want to alarm you. I really doubt you'll get questioned... there's nothing tying us together on that night. But we are business partners, and that's why it's possible you'll get asked about me. Don't want you to be surprised."(edited)
Moiré - Today at 12:34 PM
Moire nods. Visibly relieved, she says, "I doubt they'd suspect me, even as your friend. I own the town paper, after all," she smiles as she looks into the water, "why would I risk it? I have a lot to lose there." She closes her eyes once again. "Why is your voice like that? It's a little raspy today."
Stray Shot - Today at 12:41 PM
Moire's words circle in Stray's head several times. Yes, why /would/ she risk the respected name she'd earned herself and her business interests? He shifts his weight on his haunches and brings his gaze away from Moire down to the water as well. "Yeah... You're smart for that." He replies with a quiet sigh.

"It's fine. Just tired. Spendin' all day runnin' the private guard company and then stayin' up all night haulin'... cargo. What about you? You seem... different somehow. I can't place it."
Moiré - Today at 12:44 PM
Moire lets her mouth ride to the side. Her eyebrows frown. Silence reigns for a time.
"Can I ask you for advice? I want to step back from the paper. I don't like business, I don't like managing the paper boys and money, and I don't like just being a two-bit reporter like I was back in Filly." She looks to him, her eyes almost pleading, her face decidedly neutral. "I don't know what I want, really, but I don't think it's this. I want what I had when I got the job to document this town. I want to be a journalist, not some replaceable newsie. I want to be an artist, but I can't do that here. I want to help people, but reporting petty crimes to the guard-- anyone can do that." She lets the rock plop into the water. "I thought I had everything I wanted, but I think I ended up screwing myself over."
Stray Shot - Today at 12:57 PM
Stray listens with his ears swivelled directly at Moire, his expression neutral and open. He adjusts himself to face slightly more towards Moire when she finishes speaking, though he remains silent for a few seconds, processing what she just told him. "Well... I can understand that. I wouldn't say you're a two-bit reporter like in Filly, but at the end of the day, you're right - it's just a town paper like anywhere else." He shrugs, taking a slow breath through his nostrils during a pause. "If you don't want this, you don't want it. You shouldn't let the paper hold you back. It ain't easy to find your place in this new world; you didn't screw yourself over, you're still trying to find your place in it."

"I mean... to be honest, if I lived in a place like this with so many opporunities for greatness and resigned myself to being a reporter for the daily paper, I'd feel like I screwed myself over too. But... we've only been here for not even a year. Everyone's still figuring it all out."
"For someone that doesn't have that spark to do great things, bein' a daily reporter is fine and respectable work. But... you seem like you have greater aspirations in mind."(edited)
Moiré - Today at 1:04 PM
Moire looks over the opposing river banks as she listens. She nods to his final words. "I do. I don't know what they are, but I know they're there." Her expression is less somber now. Confident. "I found someone who can be a reporter. I won't be satisfied until I have at least a couple others besides him. I'm taking him out to show him the ropes when the weekend is over. I'll know what I need to do by then."
She stretches her forelegs out in front of her. "What about you? I know you don't need to do this smuggling business for money," she says, looking at him. Her voice springs with a confident judgment, "why? As a friend, tell me why?"(edited)
Stray Shot - Today at 1:20 PM
Stray's neutral expression gives way to a slight smile as Moire appears more confident. He nods to her plans of finding new reporters, about to reply to that with approval. Her questions, however, make the smile dissapear. His blue eyed gaze avert back down to the water, the usual confidence the aviator had not evident in his body language.

"I know it's irresponsible..." Stray starts out hesitantly before sighing. Truth be told, he was increasingly asking himself the same question, "It's... a feeling. It gives a feeling. It started out when I got here last April. Some old guy offered me a job to fly a package and smuggle it through customs. I was hungry... We were all hungry in those days, and I had some plans to get back to Earth I needed money for. It paid well, and I was good at it. The best." His mouth forms a thin line as he thought back, "I never felt more free, more alive. Not even in a firefight," He says candidly, leaning over against one of the wooden beams sticking out of the water. "I guess that feeling is what got me back into it. But... things just aren't the same. I can't just stop now, though..."(edited)
Moiré - Today at 1:28 PM
Moire stays still the whole time he talks, a little frown forming on her face. "I'm scared." She looks into his eyes. "Everyone I care about-- they're all risking their livelihoods for nothing," she says, her voice straining with anger at the word, "but a little fun." She uses a foreleg to wrench her whole body around to face him. He can easily see the worry in her eyes. "I helped you out to see how dangerous it is." She narrows her eyes at him, her voice strained with hurt. "Does Moon enjoy it? Why do you risk harming her? She'll do anything for you. She loves you so much... why would you risk losing everything, for both of you?"
"It's not irresponsible. It's stupid. We were all given a second chance here."
She looks away, a cocktail of emotions controlling her. "All of you are just throwing it away like it's nothing."
Stray Shot - Today at 1:48 PM
Stray turns his head to Moire again when she says she's scared, ears perking. They quickly pin back again, immediately picking up on her body language. Her words, however, are what seem to hit him harder. He had been wondering just what had made her want to go smuggling with them, assuming that it was just for the thrill like him. But most ponies don't enjoy that type of thing... She didn't enjoy it, she was worried. Her repremands and questions hit him one by one as his mind tries to come up with an answer. "I know, it is stupid... I know it's putting her at risk - and yes, I should stop. But you don't know these people are I've been workin' for, Moire. I literally can't stop... Oh god..."

He can't hold eye contact anymore and averts her gaze, burying his face in his hooves which muffle his despairing tone. "I never made a very good pony, Moire. Even killed someone on Day One... I don't belong in this world."(edited)
Moiré - Today at 1:51 PM
Moire's whole body tenses. She stares at him. She asks through clenched teeth, her voice low and dark, "why?"
Stray Shot - Today at 1:56 PM
Stray visibly tenses as well, feeling her stare pierce through him. He picks his head up, blinking his dark-lined eyes and staring down into the water again. "H-he..." The pegasus cuts off and swallows, steadying his breath to get the words out and closing his eyes, "...He was raping my friend." He chokes out, bringing his forehooves up to clutch around his chest and clenching his eyes shut tighter as he shuddered once.(edited)
Moiré - Today at 2:02 PM
Moire's jaw clenches as if it's about to crush her teeth. Her expression softens and her gaze averts. She tries looking anywhere but him, her head aswim with emotions.
She can't, though. She looks back at him, this big personality, this stallion she respects, now so small and vulnerable and human. She sniffs, then her own tears pitter down to the dried up old wood. She stands up and sits beside him, where she wraps her forelegs around him.
She doesn't say anything. She breathes roughly through her mouth, her head buried into his mane, her own tears staining his coat underneath.
Stray Shot - Today at 2:14 PM
Pictures of Coca Breeze and the events of that day flashed through his mind as his eyes held shut, trying to force back tears. The physical contact was enough to let him know that the suspicion and judgement she'd asked him 'why' with was no longer there, and he instinctively hugs to the unicorn as well, letting out a single, long, quiet sob before going silent except for sniffles, staining her chest tuft with tears.

The quiet hold continues on past 30 seconds... the pegasus tense as he desperately worked to ground himself in the moment and force those memories back down. He seems to get a hold of himself after about a minute, and Moire can feel the tension under his short fur start to relax as he lets go of his tight hold. "Th-this... this can't keep goin', Moire. It's like I'm two seperate people." he says, his voice becoming less shakey.(edited)
Moiré - Today at 2:26 PM
Moire has so many things she wants to tell him. She wants to call him a hero, she wants to strike herself for causing him to feel this way, she wants to stab the rapist herself. As he steadies, her own emotions take over, her voice shaking tenuously. "I know what it feels like. I thought I left the past behind when we came to Equestria. I thought I left my old self back on earth," she leans back out of his mane, her eyes finding his, "but she followed me. All my demons followed me."
She tenderly pulls her leg back. She leans her body onto his. "I'm two people, like you are. One who's optimistic, and one who just wants to lay down," her expression screws up, and her voice rises high to prevent a sob, "and die."
She rests her eyes on his shoulder. "My friends want to help me. I'll help you through this, too, Stray, even if I have to go help you risk everything. My friends are all I have."
Stray Shot - Today at 2:43 PM
Stray's folded ears perk back up at the shakey tone she starts out with. The concern and curiosity immediately aroused by what she was saying was enough to latch onto to discard the previous thoughts plauging his mind. He doesn't hesitate to look her in the eye now even when her gaze fell, and the look on his face made it clear he was intently listening.

The tired lines on his face crease with worry, leaning against her as she prevents a sob. It takes him a few seconds to think of what to say. His first reaction was to start spouting off questions, as he usually did when curious. He wanted to ask who 'she' was, what her 'demons' were, and just what types of things had to have happened to this mare to feel this way. The resolved loyalty she said she'd help him with, even with the senseless risk he got up to, touched him. Instead of assaulting her with questions, though, he merely spoke softly, "I want to help you. I want to know what happened. We're going to help each other. You hear me? Sam will too. We'll do whatever it takes." The confident determination with which he often spoke was back again.(edited)
Moiré - Today at 2:56 PM
She pulls her head back and looks him in the eyes. She remains somber, as if the emotions about this topic have already run their course. She pulls her mane out of her eyes with a hoof and swallows hard. She bites her lip, and for a moment her eyes look as if they're going to tear up again, but she closes them and sighs. When she opens her eyes and tries to maintain contact with his, she looks away bashfully.
She wants to keep quiet. She wants to let the past stay in the past. She'd rather never even think about any of it again, but it just keeps cropping up. She feels frustrated, and angry, hopless, and, ultimately, she feels tired.
She opens her mouth to deflect; to protect her past, as if preventing someone else from poking it will keep it from devouring her. She looks back at him once again. She just opened up to him, cried in front of him without regard for her own image. She felt secure. She shared her weakness with him while he himself was weak, and it worked, and she didn't feel bad about it.
"It wasn't any one thing. I don't like talking about my life because none of it was any good. It was the pain of years of control and--" she frowns, "too many heartbreaks. Too many broken things," she finishes in a whisper.(edited)
Stray Shot - Today at 3:13 PM
The short pegasus regards Moire with an unassuming, soft gaze as she struggles with what to tell him. He didn't expect her to want to lay everything out on the spot like this, especially after the rollercoaster of emotions he knew she had to be feeling right now, even without knowledge of what all the causes were. It definitely wasn't easy for him to tell her about even that one incident.*

When she frowns, he mirrors it, leaning towards the whisper to hear. 'Years of control'... 'Broken things'... The words stuck out to Stray like sore thumbs. Although he wanted to know more, he let things lay for now. Maybe she'd want to tell more in time. The frown thins to a line and he leans away after, nodding slowly and knowingly. "I understand. Well, maybe... maybe we can start fixing those broken things. One by one. Everything in it's time."(edited)
Moiré - Today at 3:21 PM
Moire nods, her mane bobbing back and forth. "You aren't an awful pony. You aren't even a pony; you're a human, and you're a hero. Any transient that harms another deserves to die," she finishes in a shaking fury. She assumes the rapist was a transient, for the circumstances. "You saved someone. Why don't you belong here?"
Stray Shot - Today at 3:38 PM
Stray's expression doesn't change much at the encouragement, and his ears actually fold back at being called a hero. He didn't feel like a hero. He didn't think or feel like he saved Coca; it didn't prevent the damage that was done. He simply was too exhausted to elaborate more on that particular incident. "For most of my time here I didn't even wanna be here. I was trying to find a way home. I wanted to get back to my family. I lie and cheat and I've done it since the beginning; I help save the town meanwhile I'm pullin' the wool over the Guards' eyes and misdirecting them-..." He cuts off and just shakes his head, sighing. "I don't want to keep dwelling on it right now. I'm sorry." The truth was, there was a year's worth of incidents leading to Stray feeling this way, the smuggling and killing just being two of them. But he couldn't bring himself to bring up other catastophes like Griff, how he recklessly contributed to his insanity, shot him, and learned he'd killed himself. Or the Copper Cats incident. "It's a lot of things."
Moiré - Today at 3:41 PM
Moire looks out to the river. She shifts as she leans against him. "It's fucked, is what it is, Stray. I wish I had the answer, but all I can do is be your friend."
Stray Shot - Today at 3:46 PM
Stray takes a deep breath, leaning against Moire and gazing out to the river as well. "That means a lot to me. I... don't talk about that stuff. Thanks... for listenin'. And for telling." He says softly. "We'll get it un-fucked... Eventually."